Finally. . . Full Day Kindergarten in Needham!

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Full Day Kindergarten is coming to Needham next school year! 

After years of planning, the Needham Public Schools will offer a publicly funded, student-centered, and developmentally appropriate Full Day Kindergarten program for eligible students.  Once implemented next September, Needham will become the last community in Massachusetts to offer to at least some of its Kindergarteners a Full Day Kindergarten program!

Under the leadership of the School Committee and with the unanimous support of the Select Board and Finance Committee, the School Committee has included almost $2 million in its FY20 (School year 2019-20) to provide for the additional teachers, teacher assistants, and materials required to open 22 Kindergarten classrooms in each of the schools next fall, including the new Sunita L. Williams Elementary School which will replace Hillside.  With a final appropriation of funds anticipated at the May Town Meeting, we will be ready for next fall!  Principals, school staff, central office administrators, and others are busy developing the new program, hiring teachers, planning for renovated spaces, and meeting with incoming families to orient them to Full Day Kindergarten.

The curriculum and program are modeled after the Boston Public School’s successful Focus on K2 Program  and mirrors in many ways the existing half day Kindergarten program and the Kindergarten After School Enrichment (KASE) Program that has served Needham children and families for over 27 years.  The community has been fortunate to have the talented and dedicated KASE staff work with our children under the enduring, caring, and loving leadership of KASE Director Connie Leonard who will retire at the end of this year after 25 years.  While KASE will go away at the end of this school year, we will be fortunate to be able to hire some KASE staff to teach and work with our Kindergartners next year.

The Kindergarten program will be guided by six core principles that will guide teachers in the implementation of a classroom experience that allows children to experience and explore various learning centers throughout the day even while they focus on literacy, math, and social and emotional learning.

To learn more about the implementation of Needham’s Full Day Kindergarten Program, you may view a recent Needham Schools Spotlight cable show here:  Needham Schools Spotlight: Full Day Kindergarten  Incoming Kindergarten parents should also plan on attending orientation and information sessions at each of the elementary schools:

Broadmeadow, Wednesday, April 10^th

Eliot, Thursday, May 2^nd

Hillside (Sunita L. Williams), Wednesday, May 15^th

Mitchell, Wednesday, May 8^th

Newman, Wednesday, May 8^th

For details or to receive updated times and information, please check out each school website.  Full Day Kindergarten, here we (finally) come!